LukeJavan8
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 7066
Loc: Land of the Flat Water

Just noticed this old thread, well not so old, but notcurrent, as it were.

When I was taught typing back after the dinosaurs left, wewere taught to double space at the end of each sentence, andat the end of each paragraph, creating a nice white spacebetween paragraphs. Paragraphs were indented also.

I learned that paragraphs should be indented with a tab set at five spaces. I'd say that conventions are not universal, so please yourself, to the extent that tools and bosses allow. I follow conventions that make sense to me, or that I haven't thought about, skip those that don't.

I usually indicate paragraphs these days with double returns (not carriage returns) with no indent, but there are times I indent, and sometimes even use both methods. Amount of indent, if any, I determine by eye. Most of the publications I set up or write for are programs for performing arts, and I have nearly free rein.

I learned that paragraphs should be indented with a tab set at five spaces. I'd say that conventions are not universal, so please yourself, to the extent that tools and bosses allow. I follow conventions that make sense to me, or that I haven't thought about, skip those that don't.

I think one should be consistent in the proper context. When I lived in Germany I slowly became aware of how different their typewriting conventions were from ours. They would double space letters to indicate emphasis, whereas we would underline a word or phrase. Then there's the whole punctuation inside or outside of the quotation marks (or whatever punctuation is used to indicate reported speech). Having worked as a writer for over twenty years, I am happy to follow the written conventions of those who pay me at the end of the week. Another great convention is whether to use a serial (aka Oxford) comma in lists of three or more words or phrases. People really seem to get bent out of shape on that one. The humorous thing, to me, is that these orthographic conventions are pretty much arbitrary and historical in nature, but we all like to think that something we've been doing for years has purpose and meaning, and that the language would suffer without it.

LukeJavan8
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 7066
Loc: Land of the Flat Water

They would double space letters to indicate emphasis, whereas we would underline a word or phrase.

We also learned to double space after the period (.) ofone sentence before beginning the next sentence. Thepunctuation inside or outside a quotation is another interesting thing. Also use of semi-colons was intriguing.

I usually indicate paragraphs these days with double returns (not carriage returns) with no indent, but there are times I indent, and sometimes even use both methods. Amount of indent, if any, I determine by eye.

This is the first post I am writing from work. This is work related anyway: so no guilt trip here. Is the modern way not to have an indentation in the beginning of the paragraph. I have stopped indenting the beginning of a paragraph for sometime now and had not even realise this. I learnt paragraph indentations in school. Did this become obsolete when computers arrived?

Originally Posted By: Tromboniator

Most of the publications I set up or write for are programs for performing arts, and I have nearly free rein. Peter

Also now snucking in one non-work related bit: The publications you work on could not be scripts then. Plays and film scripts are hugely formatted. You have US and UK formats with character names in the middle or at one side, proper place for directions etc. etc. I prefer the UK format.

No, I have not worked on scripts. As an actor, I have to say that I find putting the character name in the center is ridiculous. Whoever established that format was not an actor. Or not one I care to work with! In fact, it seems that format is more important than content. What a world.

As an actor, I have to say that I find putting the character name in the center is ridiculous.

It's pretty much standard in all of the screenplays I've ever seen. It's also a convention that a page maps to about a minute of film time. Remember, in filming the 1 to 3 minutes of actually usable footage per day of a typical Hollywood film that means one to three pages of a screenplay being consumed.

Whoever established that format was not an actor. Or not one I care to work with! In fact, it seems that format is more important than content. What a world.

The format developed over the years and during the the studio period in US film productions. I'm pretty sure it was a long and slow process and not just anybody is responsible for it. The major advantage of the screenplay format is there is plenty of white space to utilize for additions and director's notes. In fact, screenplays change a lot during the filming of a movie. Plays not as much (except for new ones).

In fact, another convention of screenplays is that any changes made are printed on differently colored paper (more of a teleplay convention), so people know at a glance when something has been added. Those additions get added to the scripts in the morning and often change the physical page count.

The major advantage of the screenplay format is there is plenty of white space to utilize for additions and director's notes. Is that the reason? I could never figure out why they formated it this way. Now I know.

Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.